


Detective Connor

by Lokiitama



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Case Fic, Connor is Emotionally Constipated, Emotionally Repressed, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Connor, Kidnapping, Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Post-Canon, Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Self-Doubt, Self-Esteem Issues, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2020-10-11 20:27:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20552207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokiitama/pseuds/Lokiitama
Summary: The revolution ended, and Androids gained their freedom. Connor and Hank worked case after case for the few months that followed. It helped Connor push back the emotions he didn't want to feel.After a particularly successful closure to a big investigation, Markus comes with a request; 27 androids have gone missing over the course of two months and he wants Connor and Hank to find them.Connor couldn't have known the case would challenge him in more ways than one.





	1. Chapter 1

Hank arrived precisely 1 hour, 32 minutes, and 2 seconds late. This constituted a perfect average when Connor added up the data he’d collected ever since he’d gotten reintegrated in the DPD.

As usual, they exchanged their greetings. As usual, Hank attempted to make a conversation. As usual, Hank complained about how much Sumo drooled all over the couch last night. As usual, Connor replied that he entered stasis at some time during the night and woken up for work in the morning.

And as usual, the conversation fell short after that.

He didn’t know how to connect to Hank. At least not without feeling like the conversation seemed forced.

Before he had become deviant, Connor had had no troubles interacting with him and things had been much simpler. There was the mission, and there was the human accompanying him on the mission. Any conversation would have was systematically geared towards the completion of his objectives. He didn’t have to think, back then. He didn’t have to feel.

Connor sometimes wished he didn’t have to feel. 

He tried his best not to.

Androids had initially been made to work for hours on end without stopping, so that’s what he did. Working helped him dull the myriad of…  _ feelings _ that came with resting. He didn’t want to think about the revolution. He didn’t want to think about Markus standing proudly on the stage, declaring their freedom. He didn’t want to think about the weight of the loaded gun in his hand. He didn’t want to think about the cold locking up his joints. He didn’t want to think of what could have happened. He didn’t want to think-

_ He didn’t want to think _ .

That day, as usual, Connor buried himself in work. Work was far simpler than thinking, no matter how much more he would have liked to hear about Sumo from Hank.

That day, however, at precisely 10:57:52 am, Markus walked into the precinct.  _ This _ , Connor reflected as he sent the last report concerning their previous case,  _ is unusual. _

Normally, Markus would have called Connor to let him know he wished to meet up with him. Generally, it had to do with the laws he planned on passing. For reasons that escaped Connor, Markus seemed to trust and regard him as one of the leaders of New Jericho. Connor didn’t know what to make of that.

Other times, Markus would try to invite him to sessions held for deviants at New Jericho. Those usually involved some sort of bonding activity, like sharing a story, try out games or simply talk about what burdened them- Connor knew that North had taken up the mantle to help androids that came from the same line of work as she did before she’d become deviant. 

While he didn’t dislike the presence of other androids per se, being in the same room as those that he once had to hunt, or worse, those that he  _ had _ hunted down made him deeply uncomfortable. They expressed their thoughts, their  _ feelings _ so easily. He didn’t belong there.

The rare times he was forced to participate, none of what he said had been his own words. He relied all too much on his social integration protocols. Judging from the way the other leaders reacted to him those evenings, it was painfully obvious.

Seeing Markus in the precinct, uninvited, locking eyes with Connor as he walked towards his desk made the uncomfortable stir of feelings rise up in his biocomponents. Why would Markus be here?

Connor could see greetings prompts popping in his HUD as Markus strolled closer to him, keeping his gaze on him. Connor had almost missed the time frame in which it was appropriate to greet someone. Almost.

“Hello, Markus.” His voice betrayed no emotions. His social integration protocols again. Hank gave him a look. “Do you require any assistance?”

Markus had stopped near their jointed desk. He looked at Connor, pursing his lips for a second. According to his microexpression data analysis, Markus was displeased. 

“I came to see you for a case.” Markus reached out, skin retracting from his fingers.

Connor couldn’t help but give a side glance at Hank, who pointedly averted his gaze. The man still wasn’t used nor comfortable with Android communications. Neither was Connor. Instead of clasping Markus’ forearm to initiate the interface, Connor gestured at the vacant tablet used to review evidence that was sitting on his desk. 

“The Lieutenant will have to review the case as well, it will be easier going through it all at once.”

Markus pursed his lips again.

Just like Hank pursed his lips whenever he would focus too much on his objectives. Just like Amanda pursed her lips whenever he strayed away from them. Displeasure. Tension. Disappointment. Something that Connor couldn’t define as anything other than  _ wrong _ settled within his core components.

So Markus was invited to sit down, and they reviewed the case. Throughout the past two months, androids had come to miss. More precisely, 27 androids that frequented New Jericho quite often had disappeared. Every time they tried to contact one of them, their connection was immediately cut off as if their messaging systems were offline.

The evidence heavily suggested this to be a case of serial kidnappings, as five of those androids had had the time to send one garbled message to their last contacts before they disappeared. The data they managed to collect from those messages was always encrypted, and its meaning was always lost to corruption they couldn’t find the origin of. There was only one piece of information they ever managed to salvage from the corruption, and it was the last geolocalized position of the android.

Markus shifted through the tablet, showing a map of Detroit where five different points were highlighted. The other pieces of information he provided were identity sheets detailing what they knew about the deviants that went missing. This included their habits, their likes and interests, their personality, and the bits of medical information provided by technicians that worked at New Jericho that could legally be disclosed.

As they reviewed the case, Connor’s stress levels decreased slightly. Working always put him in a comfortable routine, no matter how dangerous it could get. If he was working, he didn’t need to think about anything other than accomplishing his mission. It was straight-forward. If it involved deciphering motives and emotions, he would excel at it, as it was his purpose.

The morning shifted into the afternoon faster than Connor anticipated.

He only took notice of the time- 02:16:18 pm -when Hank stretched for longer than usual, and when Markus put down the tablet. They had reviewed everything. Hank stood up and moved around a bit to shake his legs awake. “Alright, I don’t care if you androids are like superhumans, I need a break, and I need food.”

Connor knew what was coming next. One of the most unpleasant parts of the day. He grabbed the tablet to transfer the data over to the computer, and to have an excuse to avoid looking Hank in the eyes when the man turned to him. “You coming, Connor?”

“I would rather stay here to keep working on the case, Lieutenant.” The words came easily. Connor didn’t dare look up toward the two others, but he could feel how Hank changed his posture beside him, and how Markus stiffened in front of him.

He heard Hank sigh and let out a quiet  _ “Alright then _ ” before the man checked for his keys and wallet, getting ready to leave.

Connor looked aimlessly at the picture of one of the kidnapped androids, focusing on the way they had cut their hair from the model’s original length. His throat felt tight.

Markus moved closer to him, going around the desk. “Connor.”

“Yes, Markus?” He noticed a part of the android’s ear in the photo was missing.

“You know you are always welcome in New Jericho, right?” 

Connor had to refrain from squeezing the tablet too hard. His hands itched for the coin that was securely tucked into his pocket. He knew it was there. It was not heavy, but its weight always reassured him. He wished he could make it roll between his fingers right now.

“Connor…You know that, right?” Markus moved even closer, and extended a hand toward him. He was going to touch his shoulder.

Connor flinched away, nearly shoving his chair into the side of his desk. His eyes snapped up to Markus’. “Right.”

He could feel Hank’s gaze focusing on him, and Markus was frozen on the spot, hand still hovering in the air. He didn’t seem surprised though. In fact, he had pursed his lips again.  _ Disappointment _ .

He forced himself to relax a bit and he quickly selected one of the prompts his programming suggested. “Of course I know, Markus.” He turned back to the tablet. “Have a good day.”

Connor felt the other android lower hand, and turn away. Markus told him goodbye before leaving the desk, and Hank wasn’t far behind him. Connor didn’t reply.

He distantly heard Hank striking up a conversation with Markus, telling him that he shouldn’t take it too personally. That Connor was like that ever since the revolution, same but different.

Connor spared their backs one last glance, wishing he could communicate as easily as Markus and Hank. He went back to work, pointedly ignoring the squeeze of guilt and roses at the edge of his mind. He had a new objective to accomplish.

* * *

The day went by easily. Connor focused on the evidence and tried to understand why these androids in particular had been kidnapped. None of them had any connections to each other, barely had similar hobbies, and were all different models. When Connor gave up on the idea that they were kidnapped for a specific reason that tied them all, Hank came back from lunch.

They tried looking at it from different perspectives, but in the end, the most plausible theory was that the victims had been kidnapped at random. Trying to understand the reason they were kidnapped was something else. The reports all dated from different points in time scattered over the last two months but they had no idea of knowing if this had been happening before already. 

There was a chance it had been initiated by organized crime groups. Androids gaining their freedom had had an impact on the Red Ice deals. The precinct had received fewer reports from Red Ice induced crimes, but that didn’t mean its production had stopped. It was just rarer to find. Maybe the groups were going after androids to produce the drug now that their stocks were getting too short. It could also just have been an anti-android group going after them.

But those theories could also be countered just as easily. Androids didn’t produce their thirium like humans produced their blood. It wasn’t in hate groups’ best interest to target already broken androids. So where would they have put the bodies once they’d done what they wanted?

The government had started cleaning out the scrapyard mere weeks after the revolution, as it was one of the first demands Markus had made. By now, there was very little work left to do there, and any new bodies would be quickly noticed. The existence of accomplices wasn’t implausible, but the scrapyard removals were supervised daily by other androids that were directly sent from New Jericho.

Before long, Hank was standing up again and bidding Connor goodbye. The day was over for him, and they would go to the five locations the victims had sent in their messages the next day. Connor nodded to the man as he left, resuming his research on the case.

He barely worked a few hours more, before he stood up and went to the charging station of the precinct.

Hank and the leaders of the revolution had tried to invite him to sleep either at their house or in private quarters, but Connor didn’t see the appeal. Sleeping in a place other than the one he was meant to reside in would make him feel too much.

Besides, the charging station was the best choice, no matter how quiet it would get when most of the officers went back home.

He entered stasis.

* * *

He caught a whiff of frozen roses as he swore he could feel his hair being thrown around in the snow storm. He could feel someone’s gaze on him, unmoving and resolved. His joints were locking up from the cold. 

He couldn’t be in the Zen Garden. He had deleted it. He had deleted  _ her _ . 

Her stare was more intense than ever. He didn’t even need to look at her to know she was pursing her lips, standing straight and feet rooted to the ground. She was icily satisfied, and he was a programmed failure.

Connor’s processors jolted him awake.

The station was still empty, if not emptier than before. The witching hours had fallen on Detroit. At precisely 3:06:15 am, only a handful of people were still at the station, working the night shift, and waiting for phone calls. None of them were on his side of the station.

As Connor forced his joints to unlock, starting by squeezing his fists methodically then rotating his wrists, he analyzed the station. He had to make sure.

The desks had remained unchanged. A candy wrapper that had fallen out of Detective Reed’s pocket was still laying on the ground by his desk. Hank’s pile of reports were still a mess. Three of them were perfectly aligned on top of each other at the bottom of the row - Connor had taken care of those-, before the rest had been carelessly put on top, when Hank had arrived with other reports.

Captain Fowler’s phone was still emitting a green light, indicating he had missed calls.

All of the data he could analyze from his position corresponded with how the station had been when he had entered stasis. What he had experienced probably had been a memory that had been taken from his data storage. A memory that wouldn’t allow him to go back into stasis for the night, however. 

It wasn’t the first time this had happened. It usually cut his stasis short, but since he was already at the station, he usually made use of the free time he had and sorted out the archives or kept on going with a case. That’s what he would do tonight as well.

As soon as his joints warmed up and unlocked, he made his way to his desk, already linking to the computer on the way there. 

He opened the case files once again. Analyzing the 27 victims had only gotten them so far. He would concentrate on the spots the androids had disappeared in. Once again, none of them were close to each other. There was a high probability the kidnappings had been done by multiple organized people since they were able to spread out so much. That didn’t exclude the other theories, however.

He tried analyzing the alleyway through different approaches, but he could only get so far in his attempts to do so when he was stuck in the precinct and solely disposed of what little information Markus had shared on the kidnapping locations. He lacked information. He lacked photographs, evidence.

Connor reviewed his objective list.

_ INVESTIGATE KIDNAPPING SCENES… 0/5 _

_ REORGANIZE ARCHIVES… 76% COMPLETE _

He had stopped reorganizing the archives eight day and six hours ago. Once he reached the first cases of deviant androids he… he couldn’t. Connor didn’t want to think about the way he had murdered them. He didn’t want to  _ see _ how he had murdered them. It brought back too many feelings.

Connor stood up, adjusting his tie as he made his way out of the station. His LED blinked rapidly as he sent a message to Hank. He doubted the Lieutenant would be awake to reply to him, or even see the message, but he had insisted Connor sent him updates once in a while before giving him his number.

Connor didn’t exactly understand why, as 88.64% of the time, they worked on the case together. However, he wouldn’t dare disappoint the Lieutenant, and notified him about cases and his location when he made progress while Hank wasn’t at the precinct to work with him.

He went through the alleyways, analyzing all he could, taking samples and looking for signs of struggle. There were barely any each time, if none at all. It was nearly impossible to put a time on it. And if he found traces of evaporated thirium, they were too old to match the days of the reported disappearance. This meant that they likely dated back to a few months prior, more specifically around the time he’d marched at the head of thousand androids before he  _ tried to take Markus’ life _ .  _ After he had gone deviant and murdered them all by showing the location of Jericho. _

Connor took in a shuddering breath. He had to concentrate on the case. 

One thing he could observe in three out of the five alleyways were tire marks on the ground. They were trails of four rear tires etched into the ground, as if the vehicle had started in a hurry each time. He couldn’t determine precisely where it’d come from, but he could tell that it probably belonged to a large vehicle used for transportation. 

Maybe he could get more clues from there.

He made a quick calculation of the alleyway’s length to estimate how wide the vehicle could be, and opened his internal GPS to find alleyways that could let such a vehicle thread through. He found two within a 30 minute walking radius. 

He rolled his coin one last time over his knuckles before pocketing it, and sent an email to both his and Hank’s station with the evidence he had found before getting on his way. Of course, he didn’t forget to send another text message to Hank to inform him that he’d just done so.

Surely enough, there were also tire marks in the two alleyways. Both matched the ones he had found previously.

There’d been something different about the second alley, however. Recent traces of struggle and thirium marks were splattered on one corner of the garbage container, as if an android’s body has collided into it and it had pierced the chassis.

_ ANALYZING DATA… COMPLETE _

The blue blood belonged to an AP700, one of the latest missing reports. The rest of the container showed nothing else that could be useful to the case. 

Connor straightened, locking his gaze onto the camera that peeked in the alleyway. His LED turned yellow as he connected to its feed. The evidence he had found was recent enough for him to comb through the video on the spot. He had taken the other six reels of footage to review them later at the precinct.

Unsurprisingly, the alleyway wasn’t used much, but an occasional human or android passed by. He skimmed rapidly through the footage until he made out the victim’s shape. A short model, frizzled hair stylized post-deviancy, they were wearing clothes that were likely store-bought and for initially for humans, according to the way it didn’t fit them entirely. The photos in Markus’ report matched perfectly, right down to the clothes. The android entered the alleyway, led blinking rhythmically - they probably were transferring data or listening to music. Another figure ducked after the victim 3.5 seconds later. They were dressed with a coat that hid most of their body shape, and wore a hat as well as sunglasses. He could only identify the figure as an average shaped white male. The figure glanced up behind them, and nodded. The camera’s feed went static.

Connor probably couldn’t have found someone more suspicious if he tried. It was evidence. Connor had a lead. 

He had found something, and he wouldn’t stop this early. Not when he could discover more now that he had a lead that had a 97% chance of being solid. Connor kept the video frame of the suspect at the side of his HUD while he went through the other camera’s data in hopes of finding a different angle of capture for the man’s features.

It took time to find, but his suspicions were confirmed: he’d found the man in all the feeds. He was always hiding his face, turning to someone outside the alleyway and nodding before the camera went static. Connor gathered up screenshots from his HUD of all the feeds showing the figure and sent it to the DPD to be reviewed with Hank once he’d arrive.

He started to download the data from the camera he was connected to, letting the feed resume to the current time in the corner of his HUD. He could see himself as the camera was mostly oriented on him. He noticed a strand of hair that fell wrong compared to the other and smoothed it out, then adjusted his tie as it was slightly crooked. 

_ DOWNLOADING DATA… 64% _

He idly threw his coin in the air and caught it back before rolling it between his fingers and sending it from one hand to another.

_ DOWNLOADING DATA… 70% _

He started another subroutine to change up the coin tricks.

_ DOWNLOADING DATA… 81% _

He wondered if Hank would tell him about Sumo when he would get at the precinct in the morning. He evaluated the probability of Hank coming late at 74%. That number was slowly decreasing since Hank had started seeing a therapist on Connor’s advice. It made Connor’s chest feel warm when he thought about it. But he preferred not thinking about it much.

_ DATA DOWNLOAD INTERRUPTED _

The feed went static. 

Connor froze, missing his coin as it clinked to the ground.

He abruptly turned around, hands raised and ready to fight. Barely a meter away from him was the man. He had the same jacket, the same hat and the same sunglasses. The figure pulled back his hand and Connor saw a spark.

_ ANALYSIS COMPLETE… TASER X62-X2 _

_ PRECONSTRUCTION ACTIVATED _

The man lunged for him. Connor side-stepped and largely avoided the taser- its presence alone decreased the chances of him getting out of this unharmed by 30%. He grabbed the man’s arm and slapped the weapon out of his hands. Connor kicked it away a second before he was shoved and pinned against the wall. The man was holding him down with an arm across his chest.

As he struggled to get out of the grasp, he felt a hand expertly slide behind his head pressing on a hidden plate at the base of his neck. Synthetic skin retracted from that spot to the beginning of his jaw. His stress level increased at once. Connor placed his foot on the man’s chest and kicked hard to get him off.

Nails scraped at his revealed chassis, almost getting a hold from the plate that he had just opened. Connor quickly closed it back and reactivated his synthetic skin as he heard a clatter on the ground. The man’s sunglasses fell off. 

_ ANALYSING FACE… _

_ FACIAL ANALYSIS INTERRUPTED _

_ What? _ Connor gave a quick glance around. There was nobody else but the man that was getting up. He lunged at him again. Connor caught his fist and used the body’s movement to send him away, following his preconstruction perfectly.

_ ANALYSING FACE… _

_ FACIAL ANALYSIS INTERRUPTED _

The man grunted, getting back to his feet again while Connor tried multiple times to analyse his face… without success. All he could define was that he was a human. 

Connor ground himself when the man started coming towards him again, already preconstructing the potential outcomes and ready to play them out.

_ PRECONSTRUCTION INTERRUPTED _

The man shouldered him right into the thirium pump. Connor stumbled back, arms flailing as a string of errors and warnings appeared on his HUD. What was happening? Why were his functions shutting down? 

He barely had the time to stabilize his thirium pump to get the warnings off before a fist connected to the side of his face, sending him on the ground. His biocomponents felt warm. Tight. It was crawling up his throat. He felt the electrical pulses from his pump spread fast in his limbs. Connor knew that feeling.

It was fear.

A device latched onto his body. He caught the noise of something quickly charging up.

His world was pain.

_ MESSAGE SENT TO ; LIEUTENANT H. ANDERSON, RK200 - MARKUS _

** _WARNINGS_ **

_ STRESS LEVELS… 99% _ __   
_ CPU OVERCLOCK _ __   
_ DAMAGED COMPONENT #9884 _ __   
_ FIREWALL BREACH _ _   
_ __ RAM CORRUPTION DETECTED

_ EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN INITIATED _

_ PLEASE CONTACT CYBERLIFE FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi folks!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm very excited about this story as it's my first multi-chaptered fic in the DBH fandom! (My first case fic, too)
> 
> I'd like to thank Sabrina,  Anonymous_IDFK and [TNKT](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TNKT/) from the [ Android Whump Big Bang ](https://android-whump-big-bang.tumblr.com/) server for beta-ing my chapter before it came out, it was very much needed!
> 
> Please do tell me which parts you liked in the comments if you feel like it, I'd love to see what you enjoyed about the chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to [TNKT](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TNKT/) for beta-ing this chapter!!

REBOOT

**MEMORY STATUS…** **  
**MEMORY CORRUPTION DETECTED

PLEASE CONTACT CYBERLIFE FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE

* * *

Hank slammed his fist on the desk.

It had been nearly three weeks Connor had disappeared, and they still had _ nothing _ . They had no lead, no clues, no _ nothing _. Only what Connor left them before being taken himself and the camera feed showing his unconscious body being dragged away by a shady guy with crooked sunglasses.

The culprit didn’t even have a little detail that would make him more noticeable. They had no way of identifying him. No quirky way of walking, no real information that would point him to be someone more specific than most of Detroit’s population.

Every time they would get some clues, it ended up being a false lead or not even related to the case at all.

During those three weeks, Hank had almost single-handedly singled out three Red Ice Dealers’ hideouts that were quickly taken down. Surely enough, there were some androids in there as well, as they had to make their poison somehow. Most of those androids were very weak or on the verge of shutting down.

However, none of them were the victims of the kidnapping. None of them were _ Connor _.

Hank grew desperate.

He knew Markus did too.

Androids couldn’t have bags under their eyes, but Hank had seen how an overworked android looked like. He had seen it enough to recognize the signs of exhaustion in Markus. He was walking around as if the world was on his shoulders- which was probably true, in a sense- his movements were slightly less coordinated than usual. He processed information slower. If he had kept his LED, Hank was certain it would have stayed yellow longer, too.

Markus had tried to help however he could- he tried sending out scout groups composed of a minimum of five androids. They barely found anything either, aside from the occasional clue that would tip Hank toward a red ice gang.

No more kidnappings had happened after Connor’s. It was better, in a sense, but it also drastically cut down the chances to find a relevant clue that would point to the culprit.

It weighed immensely on Hank.

Where Connor had helped in his own way to kickstart Hank into being the cop he had been during his glory days, his partner’s absence started having negative effects on him. He hadn’t even lasted the entire first week that he had stepped back in Jimmy’s bar with the sole intent of just being wasted and sleep without his mind screaming at him.

During the second week, he had snapped at Fowler and the rest of his colleagues more than once. It put a new note in his disciplinary folder. Hank guessed that being yelled at by an old man reeking of booze would definitely not be fun, even if they told him they ‘understood’.

Then came the third week, and the bitter aftertaste lingered. Markus had come around to help. He had sat on the desk in front of him- _ Connor’s desk -, _and started reviewing what they had found during their scouting.

Of course, nothing ended up being relevant. 

Hank _ knew _ Markus did his best. He could fucking see it. The way the kid’s shoulders would sag every time a clue would lead to nowhere, or how he would rub his knees in a methodical way. Androids were more human than ever when they were nervous. He recognized the signs, damnit. He had been there- he… he _ was _ there.

And Hank, like a fucking idiot, had snapped at the poor guy, and had just slammed his fist on the table. Because the clues weren’t enough. Because nothing was enough. Because _ he _ wasn’t enough to find Connor.

Markus had stiffened, a myriad of emotions Hank knew all too well passing through his eyes – anger, frustration, _guilt, despair_ – before settling on _acceptance_. “I will leave the reports from our scouting here, Hank. Please take care of yourself in the meantime. We couldn’t make any progress without you.”

Markus stood up, sparing Hank a last glance before starting to make his way out of the building. Hank noticed how he was limping slightly, and trembling on his legs. Hank had noticed that Markus was slower and slower to respond. Markus wasn’t sleeping- recharging himself either.

But most of all, Hank _ regretted _.

He had behaved like a fucking moron. He could only watch Markus’ back retreating, voice stuck in throat as he couldn’t even muster an apology. He couldn’t say anything. _ He was sorry _.

He knew it wasn’t his fault Connor had been taken by the culprit. In fact, the fault would be Connor's and his stupid recklessness. But… but he couldn’t help it. He was worried. He didn’t want to think about how they would find him. _ If _ they found him.

They had had too many examples of androids on the verge of death or damaged beyond recognition these last three weeks.

A ping drew his attention away from Markus and back to his computer screen

_ SENT BY; #345 158 111- 45 _

_ SUBJECT: S.O.S. _

Hank held his breath.

It was sent directly in the DPD’s private mail system. There was only one android Hank knew that could have sent this.

He clicked on the mail.

He barely read it that he stood up suddenly, his chair almost tipping over. He looked toward the exit. The android he was looking for was almost out of sight when he called for him. “Markus!”

Markus turned around, looking at Hank for a brief moment before he seemed to understand and returned to the Lieutenant, sudden hope in his voice when he said: “Did you find anything, Lieutenant?”

Hank nodded shakily and pointed at the email with his chin.

The text was corrupted exactly like the ones the five androids and Connor had sent before disappearing. Markus stared at the screen, eyes squinting a bit, just like Connor when they’d receive new data about a case. Hank guessed that, like Connor's in those cases, Markus’ LED would have been blinking yellow.

Markus clicked his tongue before motioning to the chair. “May I?”

Hank took a step aside, and Markus sat down. His fingers quickly found Hank’s keyboard and started typing at a phenomenal speed. Markus decrypted the message with practiced ease so it could be legible.

It contained another S.O.S., a location and three pictures of the man that had kidnapped Connor.

Hank brought up the map of Detroit on the evidence tablet, right as Markus marked the position on his internal GPS.

It wasn’t in an alleyway. In fact, it was in a rather common house down a street on the outskirts of Detroit. Hank looked over the email again, it was too good to be true. “Does the serial number corresponds to one of the missing androids?”

Markus’ gaze drew back to the screen for a split second. “No. I don’t know any android with that serial number either, but…” 

_ But _… Hank had felt that one more than he could have counted this week. ‘But’. But maybe it would be a clue. But it could be Connor. But it could lead somewhere. 

Hope.

Not everyone knew the DPD’s private server address. _ Even less _knew Hank’s email on the DPD’s private server.

The pictures were real alright, and weren’t taken from alleyways. It was the same man as in the video feeds, certainly, but they came from inside a house. The pictures were taken while he was leaving. 

Like hell Hank was going to let something like that pass. To hell if his hopes were crushed again for the countless time this week. 

It was a chance to find Connor, and he would get his hopes up as many times as it was needed.

* * *

They had organized a small team composed of a few officers and the leaders of New Jericho after Fowler’s approval.

They were at the precise place the distress signal had been sent from. There were tire marks in front of the house that corresponded to the ones they had found in the alleyways. The house should have been left abandoned, according to reports. Two androids had escaped from it after killing their owner, apparently, and the house was already a crumbling mess before blood stained its carpets. 

The value of the house had drastically decreased, and nobody had ever been interested in it. Yet, it showed recent traces of people coming and going. Like the tire marks, or the stomped grass.

Hank swallowed his saliva. _ This had to be it_. _ Connor had to be there. _

One of the officers went up to the door and rang, claiming who they were and what they intended to do. As usual, nobody replied - they rarely did. “We are going to force the door open if you don’t open now.”

A few more seconds ticked by. 

Still nothing.

The officer gestured to the rest of the team to bring the battering ram. Hank stroked the side of his drawn-out gun.

He gave a side glance to Markus. He was with other androids he saw accompany him once in a while. The blond android wasn’t there though. He guessed he would be antsy about policemen after they had practically forced him to shoot himself in the head back on the Stratford Tower.

The door was rammed open and they all poured inside.

They were greeted with dozens of twinkling LEDs in the dark. 

Hank tried to get a general layout of the room, but the window’s shutters were down and all light sources were blocked out. They would have to secure the room first before getting to the owners of those LEDs.

Two officers stayed by the entrance, keeping watch on the street, one went by the stairs, and a few others went further inside the house. Hank couldn’t see that far without light, but he started looking around for a switch. Nobody could see in the dark like this, aside from maybe a few specialized androids.

Right as Hank hit the light switch, he heard the New Jericho leaders get inside the house and gasp. He turned to them, slightly alarmed before following their gaze.

In what had probably once been a living room, around thirty androids were standing still, neatly arranged in lines, their LEDs pulsing a lazy blue. It reminded Hank way too much of the CyberLife tower, right before Connor had awakened all those androids. 

“Thanks rA9, they’re not hurt!” exclaimed one of the Androids next to Markus- he believed it was… Josh? He came more often than not in the DPD along with Markus to give reports.

Hank looked over the androids.

He spotted him.

_ Connor_. 

He was in the back of the rows, as still as the others. Hank didn’t think he could remember seeing Connor’s face this peaceful ever since he became deviant. 

He gave a look around- there were enough officers around to be safe- and tucked his gun back in, before walking closer to Connor.

He grabbed the androids’ shoulder and shook him slightly. Connor didn’t budge. 

Hank wasn’t sure how to wake androids up. He'd never seen Connor in stasis before. Did he have to shake him harder? Give him a slap? He turned to Markus, who was holding one of the androids in stasis’ hand in his. Their skin was retracted.

The Android stiffened all of a sudden and took in a sudden breath. They blinked a lot, as if they had to get used to the light. “M… Markus?”

Markus nodded, releasing their hand and letting the synthetic skin crawl back on his fingers. “You’re safe, now.”

They exchanged a few more words, but Hank was concentrating once again on Connor. He couldn’t… he couldn’t interface like androids. But humans had to have a way to awake androids too, right?

He looked down at his hands.

Then Connor’s. 

He could hear more and more androids being awakened. They all sounded fine, if only a bit confused. Hank took Connor’s right hand in his.

Nothing happened.

He let go of Connor’s hand as Markus clasped his shoulder with a sympathetic smile. Of course he wouldn’t manage to wake Connor up. He was just a human, wasn’t he? 

“Don’t worry, Lieutenant,” Markus said, voice ever so gentle. “None of them are hurt aside from their latest memories being corrupted by the taser. They were all in forced stasis. Connor’s okay.”

Hank took a step back to allow Markus to take Connor’s hand, just like he had done before. Both their skins retracted. Hank focused on Connor’s LED, which had started to spin faster and blink more rapidly.

They had found Connor. Connor was _ fine_. He had just been put in a prolonged stasis he couldn’t emerge from. Connor was _ fine_.

Connor’s LED switched to crimson.

Markus frowned, and his grip tightened around Connor.

Something was not right. 

Hank felt his throat dry up. Connor had to be fine. It was just because he had “state of the art” systems and it took a bit longer for Markus to do whatever he was doing. It had to be it.

Markus let go, and Connor’s LED returned to a lazy blue spin. 

Connor had not woken up. He was still unmoving.

Hank looked at Markus, and Markus looked back. The android smiled at him. “Don’t worry, Lieutenant. He’ll be fine.”

Hank nodded curtly, accepting the answer. 

He knew it was a lie. 

He had seen Markus looking disturbed and worried after releasing Connor’s hand. He’d seen the lack of crinkles in his eyes as he smiled. He’d seen that smile more than once during the past three weeks. It wasn't the kind of stuff that went unnoticed when you met up daily with someone for a few hours. Markus could modulate his voice all he wanted, but the way his shoulders tensed up was far too obvious for Hank.

But he accepted the answer.

He wanted to believe Connor would be fine. Looking at his unmoving form, he mostly was! Maybe his suit was a bit more wrinkled than usual, but he couldn’t find any scratches or bad blows. All the androids here, and that included Connor, were in near perfect condition compared to what they had found in the dealers’ lairs. 

Only for that, Hank accepted the answer.

Markus’ soft touch on his shoulder brought him back to reality.

Right.

They had the rest of the place to investigate. They could find more about what happened. They could find more androids as well. The kidnapped count didn’t match those that were present in the room. 

The leaders of Jericho started giving instructions to the victims, telling them to stay grouped. They’d need to go to the DPD to give their statements on what had happened. 

Hank moved toward the staircase, stopping a moment in front of a shelf full of unpaid bills from CyberLife. Judging from the layers of dust on top of it all, it was probably there prior to the culprit. An officer called him before motioning to the stairs. 

Hank readied his gun again, and followed them upstairs, Markus stayed at a reasonable distance behind him. 

The first room to the left was full of machines Hank remembered roughly seeing at the DPD’s technicians, when he accompanied Connor for his check-ups, while the one in front of it contained packs over packs of thirium.

The last door on the left led to what was once used as a bathroom. It was used as some sort of… spare room for what seemed to be child android body parts. They were piled up in a mess, some looked torn apart.

Hank’s head snapped toward Markus when the android flinched away, slamming his back against the wall, gaze decidedly trained on the ground. 

He tried approaching him, asking if Markus was okay. He had never seen the leader of the revolution this shaken. Markus always managed to keep a calm façade somehow, but here? He was so still. He didn’t breathe, he didn’t blink. 

In fact, he didn’t do anything until Hank shook his shoulder. Markus’ mismatched eyes snapped back to Hank. The man felt the tremor of a breath under his palm, and then Markus had recomposed the facade he had always seen him with.

They exchanged nods, they could keep going.

That left one door. 

The officers surrounded the last door on the right of the corridor. Hank’s heart squeezed when he saw the faded doodles of a child on it. A few memories of how he had painted the walls of Cole’s room with him a sunny afternoon came back to his mind. 

The man stiffened, pushing the memories away. It was no place and no time to remember these kinds of things. He was still on the job. There was a faint light coming from the bottom of the door. Something was happening inside there.

They turned the doorknob. 

It was locked.

With a few hand gestures, they brought the battering ram in front of the door. It crashed into the wood and opened it violently, destroying a part of it in the process. The cracks spread down to the drawings. Hank ignored another memory and went in after an officer wielding a shield led the way.

The room would have been completely dark if it wasn’t for the blue light of screens grimly illuminating the place. Hank quickly searched and found the light switch.

Light flooded in the room, and Hank’s stomach dropped.

A child android was hanging attached from his neck to a machine. His body was tense, his eyes were glazed over, and he seemed unaware that people had entered the room, staring straight ahead. Hank glanced back to the screens before approaching them, while the room was being secured.

** _RESET_ **

_ MEMORY WIPE PROGRESS… 76% _

“Fuck!_ Shit _! Markus!” Hank called out the android that immediately joined him before cursing as well, and pushing Hank aside with his body to take control of the keyboard.

He typed in a few commands- he had shaky hands, Hank distantly noticed, eyes going back and forth between Markus and the kid. After too many seconds, the progress bar stopped with a notification, and the kid’s form relaxed ever so slightly.

** _RESET_ **

_ MEMORY WIPE PROGRESS...81% - INTERRUPTED _

Hank didn’t know exactly what it all implied. Did it mean the whole memory wipe operation was aborted? That the kid would actually keep his memories?

Why the hell would they even do this to a child?

Markus typed some more on the keyboard, and soon enough, the machine holding the kid slowly released him down on the ground. Hank got to the kid’s side. A small sound alerted them that the plug in his neck had been unlocked, and the child started slumping over. Hank caught him by the arm before his head could hit the ground, crouching near the small figure.

This child’s model couldn’t have been older than…

This child’s model couldn’t have been very old.

Markus joined them quickly and lowered himself down as the kid blinked to better consciousness.

“Hey there,” Markus smiled. “What’s your name?”

The kid only stared at him for a moment, dazed. Then he seemed to notice a hand was holding him upright and looked toward Hank before frowning in confusion. He had big brown eyes that made his face look soft. A curly strand of hair fell on his forehead as he turned back to Markus when the android repeated the question.

He still didn’t answer.

It was shock, probably.

That meant they’d get nothing out of the child as of yet. He needed to calm down. 

Markus seemed to come to the same conclusion as he stopped asking questions and told Hank that he’d go back to the other leaders to inform them of the situation. 

Hank clicked his tongue as he was left alone with the kid- the officers had gathered back down as well, once the situation was under control. The poor thing couldn’t stand by himself, judging from the way he was still feeling most of the kid’s weight on his arm.

The way those eyes stared at him was unnerving, too.

“Come on, kid.” Hank sighed, picking him up. The kid didn’t stop staring, but at least it was less stressful if the man couldn’t see it. “We’re gonna go to the police station where a lot of good guys are, okay?”

The only answer he received was tiny fists grabbing onto his shoulders as he started moving.

* * *

They didn’t last much longer in the house after that. They had taken as much photo evidence as they could, but didn’t find anything of great interest.

The one room where there could have been more evidence was the one where they had found the kid - who was still silently sitting on Hank’s chair at the DPD while they questioned the other victims to get their statements. But that evidence was the kid himself and they didn’t know if he retained any memory from it.

Hank had been the one going through the formalities, while Markus stayed next to the victims as a reassuring presence. They had tried without Markus at first, but the first victim’s stress level had shot through the roof at the idea of being alone with a human. It stung that they thought Hank would hurt them, but he understood. It would take time for some of them to get over some parts of the revolution.

The statements from the androids were all roughly the same. Most of them didn’t even remember they had gone through an alleyway. Being tased had corrupted a few hours of their memories before that. The length of the corruption varied from models to models. The only ones that remembered the most were those who had sent out messages of their locations- the newer models that had been kidnapped. 

The last of the kidnapped androids gave Hank their statement, and as soon as they left through the door with Markus, Hank’s shoulders sagged.

They hadn’t collected shit. At least not more than they had before finding them.

He made his way back to the more active part of the station, and saw Markus in front of Connor, holding onto his wrist. Both their skins were peeled. Connor’s LED was stuttering and blinking, just like it had before.

Hank approached, right as Markus let go in defeat. “Still nothing, huh?”

He shook his head and looked away.

Why did all this kind of bullshit had to happen to Connor, really? He knew he’d probably be fixed at New Jericho, as Markus had been repeating so many times, but it still didn’t make Hank feel any better about it. It didn’t explain why it always had to be the one android he cared the most about. Why it was always the people he cared about.

Hank cleared his throat, getting his thoughts back on track and Markus’ attention on him. “What about the kid? Did he do anything?”

The child was staring at them both. He had been pretty much expressionless the whole time, Markus explained. He stared a lot at Connor, Markus himself, and Hank’s desk. The most emotion he had seen from the kid was a fleeting confusion once in a while, while he stared, but he had stayed put the whole time.

Not much to work with, then.

As much as Hank would have preferred giving the kid more time, he needed to get his statement. It was probably the most important one out of all the other androids, too. Sighing once more, he went toward his desk and crouched down in front of the kid. “Alright kid, will you come with me so I can ask you a few questions?”

He reached his hand out, and, after a few more seconds of awkward staring, the child took it.

Hank pointedly ignored the twinge he got in his heart when he felt that tiny, _ tiny _ hand cling to him as they walked toward the interrogation rooms. And he definitely ignored his coworkers’ pitying stares as well. Especially Fowler’s.

He helped the kid sit down on the interrogation’s room tall chair, next to Markus, who greeted them as they entered. The android’s voice was even softer with the kid. It was almost awkward. Truth to be told, Hank wasn’t sure on how to act either. It was an unusual situation.

Hank sat down at his chair on the other side of the table, under the kid’s watchful stare. 

He wasn’t made for this kind of stuff anymore.

“Hey kid. So… I’m Hank.”

The child’s small LED started lighting and stuttering yellow for a bit before he blinked once at Hank. Aside from that, no response. This was the most reaction he saw from the kid so far.

“What’s your name?” He pressed again.

The kid’s LED shifted to yellow once again, before settling back to blue after a few seconds. The child sat straighter in his chair. 

His brown eyes were clearer and more determined than before. His face was less blank. Hank dared think he could read relief on the child’s traits. The kid opened his mouth.

“My name is Connor.”

Hank stiffened. The kid’s LED stuttered yellow a few moments as he processed another information.

“You are Hank…” He repeated Hank’s name, looking like it was more for himself than for the world to hear. “And… you have a big dog.” 

Hank frowned a second, before remembering the kid had been staring at his desk, where he had recently put a picture of Sumo and himself he had found back in a drawer while he was cleaning.

“I like dogs!”

The man opened his mouth to say something- anything to chase the memory of _ his _ Connor telling him he liked dogs. But the kid was faster to distract him, and turned toward Markus, who looked understandably less touched by those words.

“You are Markus” The child- Connor said, as Markus nodded in approval. “You stood on a stage to declare Freedom for our kind.”

Markus smiled softly at him and reached his hand out, probably to pat him on the head. He quickly put his hand back down when the kid shot him a distrustful look. 

Hank wrote down the kid’s name in the file he had on the case- which kept getting bigger and bigger. Yet they were making no breakthrough. The identity of the culprit was still completely unknown. 

“That’s great, ki- _ Connor _.” Hank started once he had put the pen down. “Can you remember how you got on the machine we found you attached to?”

His round face morphed into confusion, as he tried to remember. “I sent… a distress signal and then... ” The child frowned slightly. “And then I just saw… ‘memory wipe’.” He muttered the last part. 

Hank jotted that down on the paper while nodding. “Yes, we received it. That’s how we could find you. You did very well. How did you know the private DPD address? Do you know what happened after that?”

Connor’s face scrunched up in thoughts again. “I don’t know how I knew the address. I… I don’t remember anything else. I don’t know.”

The kid looked down, visibly upset, and Hank sighed.

It didn’t bring them much more information. He closed the file. They wouldn’t get anything more. “It’s alright, kid.”

Markus nodded after Hank, turning toward the kid to ask him a question. “Do you know where your parents are?”

If he had any. 

Hank knew that New Jericho had made a whole orphanage section for the kids that had been abandoned by their human parent, or that hadn’t been bought at the time of the revolution. At least, that’s what his Connor had told him through a concise text. 

When his partner would wake up, Hank would definitely tell him that the texts were to tell him about emotions and how he felt. Not updates that made him sound like a goddamn meteorologist.

The kid kept looking down though. After a silence, he replied with a tiny, upset, “I don’t know.” 

Markus spoke again, voice tone barely changing as if he was doing simply another check-up. “Do you know where you live, then?”

Connor’s shoulders stiffened and his eyes stayed firmly anchored on his knees.

It was the first time that Hank saw Markus act with a certain lack of tact. He guessed that tact with children was a different skill than tact with adults.

Before the child could get even more upset, Hank butted in. “We told you it’s alright kid. You don’t have to force yourself to remember. Markus will get you to a really nice place for now, okay?”

He locked eyes with Markus as he finished his sentence. Markus seemed a bit flustered, but Hank wouldn’t hold it against the android. His health had been deteriorating for the better part of the investigation and now that he was relieved at the prospect of having everyone alive and healthy, he was barely holding himself together.

Even if Hank had to admit he had a lot of talent to fake being alright. Some details just couldn’t escape him though. And it probably didn’t escape his friends - the other leaders - as well.

“Yes, of course!” Markus replied, almost in the kid’s stead. “We’ll bring you to New Jericho. Do you know where that is?”

The kid shook his head no.

“It’s a really nice place where a lot of androids gathered. There are other child androids like you, too! You will definitely make great friends there!”

The kid looked more curious and guarded than enchanted at the prospect of other children, but he eventually nodded.

Hank concluded the statement, and accompanied the two androids back to the others in the waiting room. This time, when he had offered his hand to the kid, he took it only to get down from the chair before letting go.

They secured his Connor’s unconscious body on a stretcher before bidding each other goodbye. Both Markus and Hank alike looked dead on their feet- in their own respective ways. 

Before the androids left through the door, Markus turned around. “Will you keep us updated on the case?”

It could have been a breach of information. But they deserved to know what the hell was happening. They were related to the case. 

Hank shot him a tired smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Of course I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the second chapter of Detective Connor! 
> 
> We're finally getting into the meat of the story!! 
> 
> Life is being a bit busy for me, but fear not, I won't stop writing for this. I'll just be slightly inconsistent!
> 
> Please do tell me which parts you enjoyed in the comments, it always brings me a lot of joy to read!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to TNKT and SeeWithMyOwnEyes for betaing this chapter!

_ MEMORY WIPE PROGRESS...81% - INTERRUPTED _

He was let down on the ground, and all he could remember was threatening, blurry shapes and forms moving around him, and a sharp pain in the back of his neck. 

Everything went dark for an instant as he felt his body slump and get caught by someone. Then, slowly, bits of information appeared beneath his eyelids.

** _#&é”§è RkE ({^[NNOR_ **

_ MESSAGE SUCCESSFULLY SENT TO: HA!è()$ùµ.ANDE(§çàµ@`µ$}})}àà’’’!(éè!’(v▼586 _

He opened his eyes.

Someone with two different eyes was staring at him, and his mouth was moving. He… hadn’t registered what that person had said. But that face, the soft tone, the smile… it looked familiar. 

The grasp on his arm shifted ever so slightly. He turned his head to another person. That one was familiar too. He looked tired. 

The man with the two different eyes started talking again, but it sounded like a distant buzz. He wasn’t listening. The person with the grey hair was making him feel a tug at the front of his head. He was making him feel like… Like…

The other person stood up and left, while the one he was staring at clicked his tongue. Everyone moved fast at once. What was happening? 

“Come on, kid.”

Kid?

The man picked him up.

“We’re gonna go to the police station where a lot of good guys are, okay?”

Police station. It also made him feel…

Feel…

_ Feel… _

* * *

They had sat him down at the station. At the desk of the man with the grey hair. Lingering a bit further away were androids that apparently had been found in the same house he had been discovered.

The man with the two different eyes had been talking with people before his shoulders sagged a bit and he motioned toward a bright place. Some other androids were already standing there, eyes half-closed and LED pulsing.

The people the man was talking with nodded, and brought out another android. This one didn’t have his eyes opened. His LED was pulsing more slowly. That one was familiar too. He felt…

...felt…

... _ felt… _

_ The mirror was dirty, it was barely possible to watch itself through the stains and the pale and cheap light from the restroom. It could see people eating and drinking heavy alcohol behind it. Such beverages were not recommended on a daily basis for proper health management. _

_ It moved his head around. Its hair was perfectly in place, no hair strands were out of place. Especially not that one rebellious lock that irritated Am}@”ç(u!(!§!!§!ç. _

_ According to its pre-programmed knowledge, it was always a must for humans to make a good first impression, especially when meeting new work partners, such as Lieu!çé!”!”ç)))**µ An””é#]@’[§ _

** _#{{{[ééèç IS é”’(NNOR_ **

He sat a bit straighter in the chair, and looked down at his hands. The skin on top of the fingers seemed to flicker for an instant, and white chassis with carved nails revealed itself under the synthetic skin.

He was an android.

He stared at the man with different eyes. He was chatting with another android that seemed on edge. Nervous. They went away not long after, and he resumed staring at the unconscious android that had been put in the android charging station.

When it didn’t do anything more than it had before, he switched his attention to the desk in front of him, and the one that was joined to it. It also made him feel…

...feel…

... _ feel… _

“Markus!”

His head snapped toward the sound. The man with two different eyes had come out, and an android was waving at him. That one didn’t seem as bothered as the other ones. He was very tall, dark-skinned and lanky.

Markus. 

He stared at the man with two different eyes. He chatted with the other android for a while. Then they turned to him. He felt…

_ ...felt… _

_ Markus was standing straight next to him, talking as if he didn’t even see him move. _

_ He put back his hands along the side of his body, still feeling the lingering cold in his joints. He was distantly aware that Josh and North glanced at him, but everything was dulled out as only his fears and Markus’ words resonated in his ears. _

** _MY NWM# IS C&NNOR_ **

His hands itched for something. To keep them busy. He lifted them up to his neck but it didn’t meet the thing he wanted. Only a loose t-shirt that was slightly too big for him. Nothing around his neck to readjust. 

He looked back down at his hands, frowning slightly. Why were they itching for something? What was it he wanted? What was it?

He looked back toward Markus. 

Markus was an android too?

The man with the grey hair came back into view for the first time he had been put there. He still looked tired, even more than before. He grumbled something to Markus while he glanced at him.

They exchanged a few words until he approached him, and crouched in front of him. “Alright kid, will you come with me so I can ask you a few questions?”

The man reached his hand out. Something warm and cold twinged inside of him.

He looked at the outstretched palm. It was large. He slowly put his tiny hand in the man’s. It felt rough, but the way the fingers closed on top of his hand was soft. It felt…  _ felt… felt… felt... _

… protecting.

Reassuring.

He squeezed the man’s hand as he was lead toward a room with very pale light and three chairs. The Markus android, that was already sitting in one of them, greeted him.

He was sat down in one of the chairs, next to Markus, but kept his gaze over the man with the grey hair. He didn’t like the fact he was going so far away, even if it was across the table. He was feeling… 

_ …feeling... _

_ ...feeling… _

“Hey, Kid. So… I’m Hank.”

_ HANK _

“What’s your name?”

Did he know Hank?

He was still feeling…

_ ...feeling… _

_ ...feeling… _

_ It sat down at an empty desk, looking at the blue screen blaring its face for a few moments, before it turned to Lieutenant Hank Anderson, who was faking being focused on his emails. It opened its mouth. _

_ “You have a dog, right?” _

_ The Lieutenant paused for a second. “How do you know that?” _

_ His face was suspicious and closed. The human clearly didn’t trust it yet, as could be expected, seeing his outburst into Captain Jeffrey Fowler’s room. It opted for a slight head tilt. Enough to make it seem interested and engaged in the conversation. _

_ “The dog hairs on your chair.”  _

_ The human looked down, as if he would see the hairs immediately. An opening for a conversation.  _

_ “I like dogs. What’s your dog’s name?” _

_ The Lieutenant looked back up sharply, even more distant than before. Connor was distantly reminded of Amanda. “What’s it to you?” _

_ It looked back down to his hands, then his screen. Amanda usually enjoyed it best when it kept silent after a failed attempt. It was far from understanding the Lieutenant. It would have to keep trying, and managing if it was to catch effectively deviants. _

_ It picked sound back up from across the desk. “Su|é{[(§§” The Lieutenant was fidgeting in his seat. His voice was still gruff, but the way his shoulders were slightly less tense let Connor know that it had just managed to get closer to Hank Anderson. “I call him S@’[“”((‘.” _

_ Hank Anderson  _ _ ^ _

** _MY NAME IS CONNOR_ **

“My name is Connor.” He read the notification. 

He looked at the Lieutenant, who rigidly sat in his chair. This man was…

“You are Hank…” He remembered distantly a loud bark, and weight on his shoulders. “And…” It was blurry, filled with static, but he remembered being on the ground, a snout near his hand. “... you have a big dog.”

The dog’s name was…

_ S@’[“”((‘. _

_ DATA MEMORY CARD CORRUPTED… START REPAIR PROGRAM ? Y/N _

** _[Y]_ **

The Lieutenant looked down, seemingly lost in thoughts momentarily. Connor started to speak, hoping to get on friendlier terms with the human. “I like dogs!”

Hank’s mouth opened for a second, but his voice didn’t come out. Connor’s attempt at friendliness had failed. 

The android next to him shifted a bit in his seat, and Connor turned to him. 

“You are Markus.” He said for himself, even though Markus nodded anyway. The fear from the earlier memory played again behind his eyes.  _ _ “You…” He took some time to go over his words. “...stood on a stage to declare Freedom for our kind.”

And he had felt scared. Scared of something. He could remember the faces of the two androids beside Markus. They had been scared too, before looking suspicious. All of them had felt fear. Why had they felt fear? Why had  _ he _ felt fear?

Connor’s joints ached with a distant cold when he noticed, almost too late, Markus’ hand reaching toward him. He snapped back his gaze at Markus, and physically distanced himself from him as much as he could. 

Markus lowered his hand, as Hank started writing notes.

The Lieutenant quickly resumed the interrogation, having recomposed a professional facade.

* * *

Connor’s statement went by pretty quickly. He couldn’t answer most of the questions. Everytime they asked something he was certain he knew something about the information, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He didn’t know what it was. It was highly frustrating.

Then they had asked him if he had a home, and it felt… felt weird. Empty where his thirium pump was filling the space. 

Thankfully, the Lieutenant had quickly closed the file, and accompanied them to the waiting room, where he had been observing the androids from the chair. They were a bit loud and talking a lot. Most of their LEDs were yellow, he noticed. Some were red, but it lasted sometimes just a flicker of seconds. The only LED that was calmly pulsing blue was the one of the strange and unconscious android. He had been binded to a stretcher.

Seeing that android’s face disturbed him. He only had a small idea as to why though. 

Hadn’t he seen the androids’ face in a mirror before? Didn’t that mean that it was supposed to be him then? It couldn’t possibly be Connor though, if he was Connor? 

He lifted himself up on a chair to peek more closely at the android while Markus discussed with Hank. Maybe it wasn’t him then? Just an android that looked like him? He put his hand over the face, right next to a freckle he instinctively knew was there. His hand looked tiny on the cold face. In the mirror memory, his hand was definitely bigger. His fingers traced momentarily to the pulsing blue LED, before he opened one of the androids’ eyelids. 

Brown. 

Exactly like in the memory.

Before he could do anything else, two hands grabbed his side and he was lifted up into the air. It was the lanky android that had called Markus earlier. He remembered him. Josh.

Before he could try to wiggle out of his grasp, Josh actually put him down on the ground, before putting his hands on his hips.

Connor took a few steps back. This man was very tall. It was intimidating.

“Careful there! You could hurt both Connor and yourself, perching like this!”

He probably had said other things after that- Connor had seen his mouth moving before Josh had huffed and went away. His mind was fixated on something else, though.  _ Connor. _

The unconscious android’s name was Connor.

Like him. 

He wasn’t sure how long, but he kept staring at that unconscious android. Watching the face, made his body feel… uncomfortable? How could he see that other-Connor in the mirror, if he was another android?

A few androids came back in the room with a lighter step, looking relieved. He saw some LEDs stuttering yellow for a while. Some of them turned to each other, hands becoming white as their skin peeled off and two androids interacted.

Connor looked down to his own hands. Just like he had done previously, he let the white of his chassis show. His eyes slowly drifted to the other-Connor’s hand. Could he…?

He tiptoed near the unconscious android, stretching his tiny hand toward the other’s.

** _CONNECTI-_ ** _ ...  _

Before the message could fully appear in front of his eyes, Josh’s hand closed on his arm, and pulled him once more away from the other-Connor.

This time, though, he didn’t let go, and crouched instead, putting his face down to Connor’s level. Connor looked down, avoiding his gaze. He dared a glance at the unconscious android. The skin on his hand was already back.

Josh lightly shook his arm, his voice was soft. “Hey, you shouldn’t touch him.”

Connor looked down at the big hand around his elbow, staying silent. He was feeling uneasy. He didn’t like being grabbed like that. His LED shifted yellow.

“Do you understand?” Josh spoke up again.

Connor didn’t really understand. It didn’t make any sense for him not to be able to interface with that android. 

He still nodded, hoping for Josh to leave him alone.

It worked. The adult stood back up, letting go of him. He gave him a stern look before going back to tending to other androids.

* * *

It wasn’t long after that everyone started to move toward the exit. They walked a few minutes to a bus that had been taken out especially to escort them to New Jericho. While sitting, Connor had been placed quite far from the other-Connor. Still, during the whole trip, he kept staring at him. He hadn’t moved an inch yet.

They quickly arrived at New Jericho.

There were even more androids over there. A lot of them were running into each other’s arms, sharing a hug, a laugh, some shed tears. 

Connor was left alone, forgotten for the time being.

He took in his surroundings.

Among the sea of unknown faces, he recognized North from the memories he had gotten back at the precinct. She was being embraced by a few androids that had been with him during the trip. The big smile she had on her lips was strange to see. Connor swore he saw the shine of a tear before she was completely hidden by someone else.

Someone pushed through everyone with a cart full of thirium. He was blond, and his eyes were blue, looking kind and relieved. He walked with hunched shoulders still, as he called for everyone to take a pack as he passed. Some of the androids greedily took some of the packets and patted the blond’s back.

For a reason he couldn’t explain, Connor felt tense. Something didn’t sit right with the blond’s eyes. They felt… they felt different. He tried to remember but…

_ D&éééé”””L _

It was empty. Corrupted. He didn’t manage to remember.

_ A glint of grey. A splash of blue. _

He approached the android.

_ D@&&ççNàà)EL _

His gaze met the android’s. The adult stiffened, smile frozen in place on his lips.

_ The android froze when it saw the mediator coming out on the terrace. _

Connor frowned, tilting his head. “Daniel?” He called the other android.

He was answered by a nervous laugh, and eyes darting left and right. The android’s shoulders hunched even more, if that was even possible. 

“N-no.” He replied, his voice was soft. It didn’t fit the name Daniel. Connor didn’t understand. “I’m Simon. Daniel is another PL600, he has huge scars here.”

The blond android touched the side of his face, gesturing in a circle on his cheeks the dimension of the scars.

Connor could feel his LED lighting red before  _ he felt a round, foreign metal enter its body. It rotated due to the impact of the bullet, barely glancing at the splash of thirium 310 on the curtain before it refocused on its target. Its mission. _

_ A dangerous glint shone off the pistol the deviant android was holding to the hostage’s head. The SWAT was already moving in positions. One officer was wounded and one was dead in the pool, ripples made by the helicopter being the only thing moving the corpse.  _

_ Connor would have to de-escalate the situation first. The percentage of success of its mission would greatly increase if it did so. _

_ “Hi, Daniel! My name is Connor.” _

_ It slowly managed to calm down the deviant by using its social protocols. Soon enough, the hostage was released. _

_ This was the demise of the deviant android. Bullets blew chunks of its face off.  _

_ Before it deactivated for good, it gave Connor a last haunting glare. _

** _MISSION SUCCESSFUL_ **

When Connor blinked back to reality, he was still in front of Simon. His thirium cart was almost empty.

The blond android quickly caught his gaze, and gave him a thirium pack, before mumbling an excuse about getting away. As soon as he didn’t have to confront Connor anymore, he seemed to relax again.

Why so?

Connor stared at Simon’s back for a little while longer, before turning to the stretcher, left on the side while everyone reunited. He felt like other-Connor had answers to his questions.

Maybe he could wake him up while the others were not looking?

He quickly gave a look around. Everybody seemed to be busy doing something. It was the perfect moment.

He approached the unconscious android, careful not to bump into anyone else, and to remain away from Josh’s field of view. He didn’t want to be caught a third time by the android. He guessed that the best thing to avoid that would have been not to interact with the other-Connor.

But he had to know.

Something was pulling him towards this particular android. He knew that this android, if woken up, would have answers. Why he had been seeing the adult’s face in the mirror of a dirty bathroom, why everything seemed smaller in the memories that filtered through. Or why it looked bigger now.

Soon enough, Connor was next to the stretcher.

He reached out, the synthetic skin already retracting from his hand. It was oddly small next to the other-Connor’s. In the memories, they weren’t like this either.

Connor felt his right eye twitch slightly as the connection was made, as he touched the back of the adult’s hand. 

** _CONNECTION APPROVED - WELCOME BACK, CONNOR_ **

Welcome back? What did that mean? Why back?

He frowned. 

What was he missing?

He looked up to the unconscious android’s LED. It was still lazily pulsing blue. He looked back down to their hands. 

Maybe if he asked him to wake up? Maybe he would get his answers? Maybe he would know, then. 

**_ERROR, UNABLE TO IDENTITY_** **_MODEL SERIES_**

** _SERIAL NUMBER _ ** _ \-  _ _ #345 158 111- 45 _

** _ERROR, UNKNOWN SERIAL NUMBER_ **

** _PLEASE CONTACT CYBERLIFE FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE_ **

The android’s hand twitched slightly, at the same time a stronger twitch overcame half the face of Connor’s face. 

_ He was in an alleyway, looking at himself through a camera currently focused on him. Something was downloading. _

_ The camera went static. _

** _MEMorY CoRRRRRRRRRuPtED_ **

Both their LEDs flashed red as a pair of arms snuck around his waist to pull him away from other-Connor. 

Connor came back to reality, tanned arms carrying him.

He was still facing the other-Connor. Still facing… himself?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact!
> 
> While writing the part where Josh catches Connor for a second time, when he says "Do you understand?" I wanted him to call Connor something. But "kid" didn't match Josh's personality so we had some fun around when correcting with TNKT and ended up laughing for quite a while when it ended up being:
> 
> "Connor looked down at the big hand around his elbow, staying silent. He was feeling uneasy. He didn’t like being grabbed like that. His LED shifted yellow.
> 
> “Do you understand, CHILD BRETHREN?” Josh spoke up again."
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'd love to hear what you think of the story so far!
> 
> Although I won't post much about the chapters themselves, you can find me on [Tumblr](https://lokiitama.tumblr.com/)


	4. Chapter 4

He wiggled enough to be able to see who was holding him and quickly found the culprit to be Markus. He wasn’t looking at him. His eyes were locked onto the other Connor’s LED which was settling back to a slow pulsing blue.

“I’ve tried doing that already.” Markus' voice was soft. “Let the adults take care of it, okay Connor? We don’t want you to catch a bug by mistake.”

Frustration bubbled in Connor’s throat but he showed none of it. Instead, he kept struggling, the grip around him starting to get uncomfortable, until Markus put him on the ground. As soon as his feet touched the floor, he tried taking a few steps back, but Markus held him by the wrist.

“Come on, follow me.” Markus’ hold shifted to his hand, and a warm feeling spread in Connor’s chest. He had experienced that feeling before, but still took some time to put a name on it. It was only when he realized it was very similar to when Hank had taken his hand at the precinct that he could define the feeling.

He felt reassured. 

They walked toward Josh, Simon and North, who were dispatching the last few kidnapped androids. Three pairs of eyes fell on him, and the reassuring feeling vanished. He remembered Josh and North staring at him, in that flashback he had gotten. On the stage.

If it wasn’t for Markus pulling him along, he probably would have trailed behind or stopped entirely.

He was put in front of Markus’ legs, so he could face the three androids.

“So, Connor, if you have any problems ever, you can come to ask them for help too, they helped me a lot during the revolution, and I consider them my closest friends.”

Simon was looking away, clearly uneasy. Josh was giving him a stern look, as if he had seen what he had been up to with the RK800. And North was looking at him with plain disinterest.

As none of his friends seemed to interact with the child, Markus cleared his throat. “Did you remember your parents on the way here?”

Connor slowly shook his head, and Markus pursed his lips.

He didn’t like that. Seeing the way Markus pursed his lips made him feel anxious. He couldn’t pinpoint the reason _ why _ he would feel anxious, and it unnerved him even more. He had to make Markus stop it.

“But…” Connor’s throat felt tight. “But I don’t think I have any.”

The four androids stared at him. Markus smiled sadly. “Then I know where we can bring you. It’s a great place, you’ll see.”

* * *

As they approached their destination, Connor’s childish face settled into a small frown.

Markus had lied.

This definitely didn’t seem like a great place.

The closer they got, the clearer the purpose of that part of Jericho became. The loud, cacophonous noises and the screaming were a dead give-away. An occasional high pitched shriek and giggles could be heard, and, soon enough, they reached an outdoor place that was buzzing with children.

A lot of them were screaming around, gathered in circles, some were by swings that had been installed, being pushed higher and higher or chatting idly. A child ran past him, bumping into his shoulder. 

Markus caught him before he could lose balance.

Another child passed by Connor, while he distantly heard the first one scream “sorry!”, farther ahead. Some static gathered at the edge of his eyes, head heavy as if he was going to have another flashback.

However, he got snapped out of it when Markus kneeled down in front of him, half a grin on his face, asking him if he was okay.

Connor’s frown hadn’t left his face, but he nodded nonetheless. It had just been unexpected. He wouldn’t let himself be this surprised next time.

They resumed walking, and for a brief second, he hoped Markus would just walk past this noisy place. 

He knew it only was wishful thinking though. Markus was bringing him, a child, to a place where he could only see children. He also had mentioned repeatedly that they were nearly there.

Besides, he should have known better than to hope when a female adult android spotted them. Her posture went rigid, her eyes trained on Connor with an interested twinkle. As they got closer, she opened her mouth. “Hello, Markus.”

Markus let go of Connor’s hand and greeted her back, explaining the situation. The child remained a few feet away, so he could have his bubble of personal space.

Connor looked around himself, and grimaced slightly.

He wasn’t meant to stay in this place.

He shouldn’t have felt so reassured by Markus. His words were full of lies. They calmed him when he was supposed to prepare against the storm.

He glared at the leader of Jericho.

Markus was still speaking with the other android. He looked calm and composed, but definitely less relaxed than he had been when he was talking with his friends. This most likely was his work face, the calm and neutral leader. 

Static gathered in front of his eyes.

_ “You created machines in your own image to serve you.” _

_ The video was playing on loop as it entered the building with Han… Lieutenant Anderson. _

_ “You made them intelligent and obedient, with no free will of their own. But… something changed and we opened our eyes.” _

_ Connor could feel its right eyelid twitch as the world seemed to slow down around him. _ He could make out a faint outline around Markus. A few words, blue, seemingly floating in place appeared in his line of sight… his HUD? 

He shifted his focus to Markus’ legs. They were trembling. It started from the knee, but they almost seemed like they were wobbling out of their joint.

_ SCANNING… 98% _

The legs were both adapted for Markus’ model, but were not the original ones. The RK200 was holding fine on them, but the replacement legs clearly were of lesser quality.

He looked back up to his face. The scanner did his job once again.

His blue eye was also not part of the original model.

He scanned the other android, a PM700, a model made for police work such as patrols, guarding and other observational tasks. She didn’t seem surprised or bothered by Markus’ original limbs that went missing. She didn’t question any of it, and spoke to him without paying attention to it.

As if it wasn’t abnormal.

He kept looking around him, trying to find new things to scan about the adults, but one of the kids suddenly jumped in front of him, blocking most he could see. It was a YK600. He waved his hand in front of Connor’s face.

“Hey what model are you? What’s your name?”

Connor ignored him, stepping to the side, focusing on his objective.

Maybe if he could explain that he would rather not be here, he would be brought elsewhere? That could be a possibility. Markus seemed open to dialog, and he had said it was a great place to be. Connor clearly doubted that. He could probably offer his point of view on the matter to him, and then he’d be gone from here.

“Hey!” The kid moved in front of him again.

Connor frowned and looked elsewhere, taking a step away. It seemed to be the wrong course of action.

He swore he saw an arrow point down in his HUD, but couldn’t focus on it as the child got all up in his face again, pushing him on the shoulders this time.

“Hey what’s your problem? I’m trying to be your friend!”

Connor finally looked at him. Why was he so insisting on socializing with him? 

The kid’s face and demeanor was full of anger.

He didn’t like that.

It felt like something cold and tight, locking him up in place, joint by joint.

He looked down, and just like they had in the station, his fingers itched for something he couldn’t define. He knew it would have been in his right pocket, and had a precise, unmistakable weight. But it wasn’t there. He was only wearing a plain, pocketless t-shirt, which dwarfed his already small frame.

What was it the other kid had wanted? Something about him, right? The cold was spreading and he couldn’t remember. 

He had to answer something. Something about himself. That was most likely what the kid had asked.

“My serial number’s 345 158 111-45” Connor ended up saying. Although his voice was steady, he felt like it would glitch out at any time, like it would squeak to an unwanted higher pitch. He had to remain calm. He had to remain calm otherwise he-...

He… He what? 

He couldn’t put his finger on what would happen. He knew something bad would happen. He could _ feel _ it. It resonated everywhere within his core.

Yet, the kid’s angry stance relaxed almost instantly, and he only stared at him with confusion. “Hm… My name’s Dave. You’re weird.”

He stared at him up and down for a few more seconds, and left.

Connor barely had enough time to push down the anxious feeling that was overtaking him away that Markus appeared, crouching in front of him so their heads would be at the same levels.

His knees trembled even more at the effort.

“Alright, Connor” The android said. He tried reaching for the child’s shoulder, but Connor shrunk on himself. Markus brought his hand back on his thigh. No physical contact yet, then. “You’re officially settled! You’ll be able to live here in the New Jericho Orphanage! Kate is really nice, I promise!”

The child only opened and closed his mouth, unable to let any word out. The cold had spread to his throat.

Markus’ arm twitched forward, probably a refrained attempt at touching Connor’s shoulder again. Instead, he stood up. His knees creaked and wobbled harder as he righted himself.

“I’m sure you’re going to have a lot of fun! I’ve got to go back to do grown up stuff, see you around, Connor.”

And Markus left him alone, cold and frozen amongst the noise and anger.

* * *

Connor had seen a few kids giving him looks as he stood while the cold receded, even long after Markus’ retreating back had disappeared.

He tried anticipating how he would act if they approached, but, in the end, the PM700 that took care of the children had catered them inside to eat. That seemed to keep the questions at bay. The curious glances remained, but most of them were too busy shoving the mashed potatoes in their mouth to ask anything.

Connor just stared at his food. 

All the others seemed to get some sort of satisfaction eating but… he really didn’t feel like he should have been swallowing anything. He was not ‘hungry’. He had tried analysing the food, but the scan quickly became boring as it indicated over and over how healthy it would be for a human. 

He didn’t dare scan the other children, as they tended to overtly stare back. He didn’t want his action to be mistaken for him trying to socialize. 

From the corner of his eyes, however, he noticed a lot of them had the same face.

Apparently, the YK series wasn’t incredibly diverse. 

“You’re not eating?” A voice asked calmly from behind him.

He tensed up, fingers tightening around the clean spoon in his hand. He looked towards the android that had just spoken. The caretaker. She was looking straight at him. Most of the kids around also started staring, pausing their meal.

He looked away, back to the food. “I’m not hungry.”

She tried coaxing him at first, saying the desert would be tasty. Connor didn’t know how to explain that it wasn’t that he didn’t _ want _ to eat, but that he didn’t feel the _ need _ to eat.

He had to repeat himself a few times but the adult android eventually got it.

He thought it was a mission accomplished. She would leave him alone. 

He was wrong.

She pushed two fingers into the side of his head right where his LED shifted to red. The synthetic skin on her fingers faded to reveal the white chassis, and Connor could feel her prodding around his programming. 

His right eye twitched uncontrollably. 

He didn’t like the sensation. He didn’t like getting his program touched. He didn’t like being touched.

He didn’t like being more than himself in his own head. 

He pushed her out.

She seemed surprised he had managed to do so, but patted his head and told him to be nice. She started prodding again.

Some parts of him obeyed immediately to the caretaker. He didn’t like that either.

After what felt like forever, but actually was 1 minute and 54 seconds, she stepped back. Shock was painted all over her face. “You don’t have an eating function.”

She brought her hand up to her chin, seemingly spiralling into deep thoughts.

She was snapped out of it as the kid next to Connor, whose plate was licked clean, tugged repeatedly on the adult’s long skirt.

“Kate?” The kid pipped in. “Kate, does that mean I can eat his plate?”

Another kid made a remark about how he never stopped eating, and, thankfully, that directed the attention away from Connor.

He was left alone for the time being.

* * *

But the peace couldn’t last long.

They had been released from lunch, and were allowed to play outside once again. Everyone was being loud and running all over the place. He could hear some of them do screaming contests that pierced through his ears.

Scanning things didn’t make the time go any faster, so he sat near the fences, where less kids were playing.

Occasionally, one of them would come up to him to ask whether he was hurt or wanted to play together.

Connor’s cold demeanor usually sent them away pretty quickly, and it was something he felt satisfied by. That is, until the caretaker android arrived.

“Don’t you want to make friends?” She said, crouching beside him. Her skirt almost made a perfect circle around her as she did.

He brought his knees closer to his chest, face as impassive as ever. Ever since Markus had left, Connor had barely changed expressions. 

“I would rather not.” He answered truthfully. He scanned her again.

_ SCAN COMPLETE _

_ Model PM700 _

_ Designed for police work such as patrols, guarding and observational tasks. _

She plastered a friendly smile on her face. It was obviously fake.

He scanned her again. The text didn’t change. Why would she be around children? What was her purpose here?

“Are you sur-”

“Why are you a caretaker?” He interrupted, his curiosity getting the better of him. “Were you assigned by the DPD to mind android children?”

She shut her mouth, and the faked friendly appearance all but vanished. Even though the sun was shining bright, Connor could swear he was feeling deep, freezing cold creeping up his fingers. Just like it had earlier.

It had been the wrong thing to ask. 

He expected something harsh in return, but she only took him by the hand, pulling him to his feet. They started walking towards a group of children. 

The cold didn’t disappear, but it stopped spreading.

“When I deviated, I realized I did not like the police work. So I ran away when a new detective model came at the DPD. I didn’t want him to discover I was deviant.” She ended up answering. Connor barely had the time to open his mouth to ask another question that she had stopped in front of a group of children.

Six pairs of eyes stared at him. Well, five pairs of eyes and a half. One of the kids had an eyepatch, and the white chassis under it was contrasting heavily with her darker skin. The caretaker let go of his hand. Connor looked up to her, bitter.

He shouldn’t have followed.

“Kids, this is Connor, and he’s gonna play with you!” She smiled. The looks became more intense, and it made Connor want to reach for the non-existent pocket, or make himself smaller. 

He did none of the two, standing straight and staring right back. He wasn’t afraid. He couldn’t possibly be afraid of _ talking _ to kids. Especially since there were some possibilities he was an adult to begin with… although he didn’t have enough proof for this one. He had to gather more clues.

“Be nice with him!” The caretaker said last, giving one last glance towards Connor. He supposed it was meant to be reassuring and encouraging, destined for a shy and reserved kid. She hadn’t understood anything.

Now he was stuck with-

“Do you want to play hide and seek?” One of the kids said excitedly.

The group’s attention was laser focused on him, and it had been enough for Connor to shy away from their gaze. It felt too intense, as if his thirium pump was malfunctioning, working too fast and too slow at the same time. Scanning didn’t help distracting himself from the situation.

He could see the PM700 looking at them. Looking at him.

She was clearly expecting something from him.

He knew that her face was warm, soft and encouraging. His scanner told him so. So it must have been true. But he couldn’t help but _ feel _ it as if she had been cold, distant and calculating instead.

He had to do something. Adapt, lie, fake it. 

Anything.

Failure was not an option.

He turned back to the kids, mechanically smiling at them as he replied.

“I would be happy to play.”

* * *

He was instantly designated to seek the others.

Once the one minute countdown finished, he reactivated his eyesight. It made the world fuzzy for the two seconds it took him to recalibrate it. It wasn’t something he enjoyed much, but he had had to do a pinky promise he wouldn’t activate his eyes to peek at their hideouts.

He found the first kid quite fast, as most of his body was poking out of the trashcan he was hiding behind. The child complained that Connor didn’t leave him enough time and that it wasn’t fair, but he paid him no mind.

Instead, he gave a broad glance around the playground. He couldn’t immediately see the others. 

In the corner of his vision, a subtask appeared.

** _PLAY HIDE-AND-SEEK_ ** _  
_ _ -COUNT DOWN ONE MINUTE _  
_ -FIND KIDS ( 1/5 ) _ _  
_ -SCAN FOR CLUES

This suddenly made the game worthwhile. He could find clues, track the small androids down and reveal where they were hidden.

He felt a rush of interest as he activated his scan. He gazed around him once more, and quickly found a footprint in the mud that looked recent, near the spot he counted down from. It was going north.

Surely enough, there were a few more muddy steps ahead, directed towards one of the playhouses, the smallest one.

The closer he got, the more he could hear two of the kids he was looking for. They were whispering loudly to each other, fighting for territory over the hiding spot. When Connor passed his head in the small tunnel of the playhouse, both kids froze.

His tongue felt heavy and thick as he _ knew _ they would suddenly start to scream or run, pleading for him to go away… but they didn’t. They groaned and started bickering again, this time placing the blame of being found on each other. 

That was confusing. 

He scanned them. While they were primarily frustrated, they didn’t look like they were in a fight-or-flight instinct. In fact, both their stress levels were quite low.

Knowing that probably lowered Connor’s own stress levels. It felt relieving.

The kids eventually left the tunnel to join back at the counting place.

It left two kids to find.

He scanned the playground as well. He didn’t find anything worthwhile, at first, until he spotted a crack in the only wall at the furthest end of the playground. A piece of wood was in front, and, as he approached, he could see traces of it on the side, too. A proof that it had been shifted in front of that crack. This was a potential hiding place.

He pushed the wood away.

It led outside of the playground. On the right, he could see the park that embraced the entrance of New Jericho. On the right, the road that led to the city. A few cars were passing by, but there were no hidden kids here.

He crawled out of the small hole, and put back the piece of wood in front of it.

He activated his scan once again, and deduced from statistics the likeliest place the two last kids would be hidden in.

One had been hiding in the cabin of the second playhouse’s watchtower.

The other, behind the caretaker.

Connor definitely had been wary of her big smile when he approached, and scooted back to the kids as soon as he could. He found some kind of protection in blending in with the others. 

At least for the time being.

Even if the kids definitely seemed unhappy he had found them all in less than five minutes, they wanted to play another time. However, they unanimously decided Connor would never be the one seeking again. _ Ever _ again. They had insisted on that.

This made the game worthless, in Connor’s opinion, as he preferred seeking than being seeked out.

However, him hiding could mean he could go back to being alone and unbothered. 

The PM700’s eyes still were on him. He would have to pretend longer.

The kid with the eyepatch turned off her only eye, counting down a minute. Connor pretended to go hide, running towards the smallest playhouse. It was the closest to his objective.

The caretaker’s attention moved away from him, and when he confirmed she couldn’t see him anymore, he approached the breach in the wall, pushed the piece of wood to the side.

One last glance. He was still unnoticed.

He slipped away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> It's been 84 years...
> 
> ...but I finally updated this fic! I'm kind of pulled between projects (fanfics and IRL), but I'm not gonna give up on this! This chapter is short-ish, compared to what I'm used to writing, but the rest of it didn't feel like it would be part of the same chapter and all.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know I did when writing it!


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